Is the TiVo 3-year warranty worth it on the Mini?

I rarely buy extended warranties on electronics, but wanted to see what people think about it for the TiVo Mini. The downside is that it's the same $40 price for 3 years like a much more expensive TiVo Premiere. But unlike the Premiere, where if it fails it's 90% of the time the hard drive which is not hard to replace, I'm guessing a Mini failure will render it useless.

I have Lifetime on my Mini's so instead of being out $99, I'd be out $249 if it fails. How stable do you think these will be over a few years and is the extended warranty worth it for the Mini? Thanks!

I rarely buy extended warranties on electronics, but wanted to see what people think about it for the TiVo Mini. The downside is that it's the same $40 price for 3 years like a much more expensive TiVo Premiere. But unlike the Premiere, where if it fails it's 90% of the time the hard drive which is not hard to replace, I'm guessing a Mini failure will render it useless.

I have Lifetime on my Mini's so instead of being out $99, I'd be out $249 if it fails. How stable do you think these will be over a few years and is the extended warranty worth it for the Mini? Thanks!

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With no moving parts IMHO it is not worth getting the extended warranty, I have never seen a TiVo (Series 3 and newer) fail for any other reason than the hard drive, I know that some TiVos have had power supply problems, but with a 5 watt unit I don't think that will be much of a problem on the Mini.

I rarely buy extended warranties on electronics, but wanted to see what people think about it for the TiVo Mini. The downside is that it's the same $40 price for 3 years like a much more expensive TiVo Premiere. But unlike the Premiere, where if it fails it's 90% of the time the hard drive which is not hard to replace, I'm guessing a Mini failure will render it useless.

I have Lifetime on my Mini's so instead of being out $99, I'd be out $249 if it fails. How stable do you think these will be over a few years and is the extended warranty worth it for the Mini? Thanks!

Click to expand...

I got the four year extended warranty on both of my Minis I got from BestBUy. For only $20 it was a good deal($14 for the two year). Plus it can help with the resale value down the road. If a Mini replacement comes out in two or three years, I will buy the new version and sell my older ones. The extended warranty will help with the resale. That is the main reason I get extended warranties on my TiVos. And I'm sure the four year extended warranty on my Elites will come in handy when I sell them to get a six tuner TiVo.

If you pay with visa or Amex your warranty is effectively doubled. The third year is a gamble. I'm sticking to my credit card factory warranty doubling. I had a TiVo fail after 1 year and a few months, I had TiVo send me a replacement out of warranty for $79 and visa promptly reimbursed.

exactly. And how much is an extended warranty? Even if you had not been reimbursed, you would have not had a major impact of cost. Extend that across multiple devices that also rarely fail, and its clear how much profit is made from these insurance policies.

I have only ever bought one extended warranty before, so I'm clearly in the " they're a ripoff" club...

However, when I bought a Mini at Best Buy, I thought it was worth it, like some others have said... I knew I was buying lifetime, and getting the mini was going to save me $7.50 a month on cable... Their $20.00 warrantee guarantees that I will make it well past the break-even point at around three years. Hey, there's always the chance of power surges, lightning and random failure.

I wasn't even thinking about the value-add of the warranty at resale time if its time to upgrade... Excellent!

I got the four year extended warranty on both of my Minis I got from BestBUy. For only $20 it was a good deal($14 for the two year). Plus it can help with the resale value down the road. If a Mini replacement comes out in two or three years, I will buy the new version and sell my older ones. The extended warranty will help with the resale. That is the main reason I get extended warranties on my TiVos. And I'm sure the four year extended warranty on my Elites will come in handy when I sell them to get a six tuner TiVo.

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So, I'll assume you only paid 20 as a total and not $40 for both of them?

With no moving parts IMHO it is not worth getting the extended warranty, I have never seen a TiVo (Series 3 and newer) fail for any other reason than the hard drive, I know that some TiVos have had power supply problems, but with a 5 watt unit I don't think that will be much of a problem on the Mini.

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A lot of solid state devices these days fail because of crappy capacitors. On the big TiVo boxes all of the capacitors are on the "power supply" which means they can be replaced relatively easily. I haven't seen the inside of a Mini but if there are any capacitors on the main board it's probably a good idea to get a warranty unless you're really good with a soldering iron.

All extended warranties are a gamble. The insurance companies are the house. They build in their profit. How much risk are you willing to take?

I can't risk my house burning down even though I know that is pretty remote.

I just purchased a cell phone. The salesperson asked if I wanted the extended warranty. While it seemed reasonable, I happily thought of the 15 plus years of never having an extended warranty and all the money I have saved since I never lost or broke a cell phone and easily realized that I could buy a new replacement phone at full price several times over by what I have saved.

So, how much risk are you willing to take? Or in a nod to Harry Callahan ask yourself, "Do I feel unlucky?"

All extended warranties are a gamble. The insurance companies are the house. They build in their profit. How much risk are you willing to take?

I can't risk my house burning down even though I know that is pretty remote.

I just purchased a cell phone. The salesperson asked if I wanted the extended warranty. While it seemed reasonable, I happily thought of the 15 plus years of never having an extended warranty and all the money I have saved since I never lost or broke a cell phone and easily realized that I could buy a new replacement phone at full price several times over by what I have saved.

So, how much risk are you willing to take? Or in a nod to Harry Callahan ask yourself, "Do I feel unlucky?"

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There was only one cellphone I've owned over the last twenty years that I did not get some kind of extended warranty. Of course that was the only phone I needed to use it on. It got stolen and if I had the warranty it would have covered replacing the phone.

The same with TVs. Out of the ten HDTVs I've owned since 2001, I didn't get an extended warranty on one of them. It died a few weeks after the manufacturer warranty ended. The other TVs with the extended warranties have been fine.

So I get the extended warranties on all my TiVos. And so far I've had no issues.

There was only one cellphone I've owned over the last twenty years that I did not get some kind of extended warranty. Of course that was the only phone I needed to use it on. It got stolen and if I had the warranty it would have covered replacing the phone.

The same with TVs. Out of the ten HDTVs I've owned since 2001, I didn't get an extended warranty on one of them. It died a few weeks after the manufacturer warranty ended. The other TVs with the extended warranties have been fine.

So I get the extended warranties on all my TiVos. And so far I've had no issues.